


The Boy Who Waited

by SpellStorm



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 19:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1400152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellStorm/pseuds/SpellStorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the TARDIS had crashed into a different backyard?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Boy Who Waited

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically Season 5, if the Doctor had crashed into Rory's backyard. Rory is one of my favorite companions, but I feel like he's really underrated because he's just Amy's fiance and Amy's husband, so I wanted to get a closer look at him. This story will mostly be snippets of the episodes in each season, replacing Amy with Rory.
> 
> THIS IS NOT JUST A REWRITE! Yes, some of it will be quoted, but Rory is very different from Amy; he won't do things the same way she did.

The wind blew through the garden of the big house, making the swings creak and the bushes rustle. In the bedroom on the second floor, a young boy sat on his bed, staring at a large crack in his wall.

“Where did you come from?” he whispered. “What’s behind you?”

Standing up, he tiptoed toward the fissure, holding his lamp in one hand. He was just about to reach out and touch it when --

\-- a loud _crash!_ sounded from outside. He jumped and dropped his lamp, wincing at the loud noise it made. Shaking it off, he rushed to his window and stared.

A big blue box was lying on its side in the remains of his mother’s vegetable patch.

His eyes widened, and within seconds he was down the stairs, out the back door, and into the garden. Cautiously, he approached the smoking box. Just as he was about to reach out and touch it, two doors flew open. A hook whipped out, connected to a rope. He gaped when two hands appeared over the side, followed by a man’s face.

“Can I have an apple?”

The boy blinked at the unexpected question.

“All I can think about -- apples,” the man continued. “Maybe I’m having a craving! That’s new, never had cravings before.” He began lifting himself out.

“Are you alright, sir?” the boy asked, watching him curiously.

“Just had a fall all the way down to the library. Hell of a climb back up.”

“You’re soaking wet.”

“I was in the swimming pool.”

“You said you were in the library.”

“So was the swimming pool.”

Suddenly, the man cried out and fell to the ground.

“Are you alright, mister?” the child asked, alarmed.

“This is perfectly normal!” As he said it, a cloud of gold mist flew from his mouth and disappeared into the sky.

“Who are you?” The boy was nervous now.

The man looked at his glowing hands. “Not sure yet. I’m still cooking.”

“Well, you’re an adult,” he said. “So you must know what to do about the crack in my wall.”

“Does it scare you?”

He nodded tentatively.

“Well then.” The man jumped to his feet. “No time to lose. I’m the Doctor. Do everything I say, don’t ask stupid questions, and don’t wander off.”

Then he turned and walked into a tree.

“Steering’s a bit off.”

***

After the man had dried off and tasted -- and promptly spit out -- several different foods (including the apple he’d asked for), they were settled at the kitchen table, him eating fish fingers dipped in custard, and the boy devouring ice cream straight from the carton (and he hoped to God his mother never found out about that).

“So,” the Doctor said, drinking custard straight from the bowl. “What’s your name?”

“Rory Williams,” the boy replied.

“Interesting name. So, Rory, where are your parents?”

“They’re out with my friend Amelia’s aunt. I was supposed to have a babysitter, but she had an emergency last minute.”

“So you’re alone?”

“I’m not scared!” he protested.

“Of course not!” the Doctor agreed. “Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard. And look at you! Just sitting there. So you know what I think?”

“What?”

“That must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall.”

***

Rory waited all night for the box to return. When he woke up, he was in bed, and he wondered if it was just a dream. But somehow it felt real, and he held on to that for twelve years, through the therapy sessions and the teasing at school. The Doctor was his imaginary friend, but Rory would never stop believing he would come back.

***

“Rory Williams?”

“Yes! Little blond boy, about seven years old, sort of a big nose. Where is he?”

The red-haired cop folded her arms. “Rory Williams hasn’t lived in this house for six months.”

The Doctor stared at her. “What? No, no, no, I promised him five minutes!”

She looked at him strangely for a moment before something sparked in her eyes. “Oh my god. You’re the Doctor.”

He was too busy trying to sonic the handcuffs to pay much attention. “Yes, yes, I’m the Doctor, I’ve been the Doctor for a long time.” Then he froze and looked up at her. “How did you know that?”

The girl ignored the question. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize. You’re even wearing the same clothes! And that little silver thingy, with the blue light -- that’s real, too!” She laughed once. “He was telling the truth.”

“Who?” the Doctor demanded. “Who was telling the truth? Rory?”

She shook her head and turned serious again. “Still. You’re breaking and entering. I have no choice.”

“How well do you know this house?”

She blinked in surprise. “What?”

“How much time have you spent here?”

“Um... a lot, I guess. Why?”

“How many doors are on this floor?”

“What? Five. One, two, three, four, five.”

“Six.”

“Huh?”

“There are six.” When she didn’t look convinced -- he’d figured that wouldn’t work, but he had to try -- he continued. “Look where you never want to look, where you can’t ever look, the corner of your eye.”

It was exactly fair to introduce her so quick, at least not like this. But there wasn’t a choice; he had to find Rory.

***

“Wait, this tree was tiny last time I was here. Now it’s huge.” He peered at the girl. “You said six months.” He flicked his tongue out and tasted the trunk. “This has been growing for twelve years. I’m not six months late, I’m twelve years.” He stared hard at her. “Why did you say six months?”

She still looked appropriately freaked. “We need to go.”

“This matters! This is important. Why did you tell me six months?”

“Well, why did you tell him five minutes!” she blurted.

He stared at her as her eyes widened more. “What?”

“We need to go.”

He didn’t move. “What?!”

She grabbed his wrist and pulled. “Let’s go.”

_“What?!”_

***

“So you must be Amelia, then.”

She faltered but didn’t stop her fast pace. “He mentioned me?”

“Mentioned? You’re his best friend! He kept talking about how you were so brave, how you would face down Prisoner Zero without blinking. _Mentioned_. Ha!”

Something occurred to him. “You said he hadn’t lived in that house for a while. Where is he?”

She winced. “I... might’ve lied, a bit. He still lives there; so do his parents. He never gave up on you, you know,” she added. “He talked about you all the time, even made me dress up as you when we were kids. He always believed you were out there, and that you would come back.”

“I didn’t mean to be gone so long,” he told her. “The TARDIS isn’t always the most reliable.”

What he didn’t mention was the way her words were warming his hearts.

***

“Rory!”

The nursing assistant turned around. “Amy!” he said when he saw his girlfriend approaching. For some reason, she was in her police costume.

He didn’t notice the man beside her until he spoke. “Rory Williams. I can’t believe it.”

He glanced over, then did a double-take when he saw the face. “Oh my god. It’s you. It’s... you came back. You’re here, and you look the exact same as you did that night, and-- Oh my god.”

The Doctor smiled. “It’s good to see you, too. Met your best friend, by the way. Lovely girl. Very good with weird.”

“We found Prisoner Zero,” Amy interjected.

Rory fumbled a second before raising his phone. “I know; I think I did, too.”

He watched as the Doctor flicked through the photos. “And these are all coma patients?”

He nodded. “Every one of them.”

“Rory Williams, you are a genius!”

Rory did his best to hide his blush. He was pretty sure he failed.

***

“Why would you call them back?” Amy demanded as she and Rory hurried after the Doctor.

He went into the men’s locker room and began sifting through clothes.

“Those belong to people, you know,” Rory said.

“If I’m gonna save the world, I need a better shirt. To hell with the raggedy!”

Huffing in exasperation, the couple followed him to the roof.

***

_“You are not of this world,”_ the Atraxi intoned.

“No,” the Doctor agreed. “But I’ve put a lot of work into it.”

Rory and Amy watched in amazement as he made the huge alien ship answer some questions.

“Alright, one more, just one: Is this planet protected?”

The Atraxi began to scan for a third time. The couple saw multiple different men and creatures right of out a nightmare.

“Because there have been so many,” the Doctor continued. “And one thing you have to ask yourself is, what happened to them?”

The scanning stopped when the Doctor walked through the images.

“Hello,” he said calmly. “I’m the Doctor. Basically.... Run.”

***

When Rory heard the wheezing sound, he almost couldn’t believe it. He ran to his window and stared out at the garden for a second before shoving his feet into his slippers and racing outside.

The Doctor smiled from where he leaned against his box. “Sorry ‘bout that. Hope I didn’t wake you. Brand new TARDIS, bit exciting. I just couldn’t resist running her in.”

“You’re back,” Rory said.

“Of course I’m back, I always come back.”

“And you kept the clothes? Even the bowtie?”

“Yeah, it’s cool.” He reached up and tweaked it. “Bowties are cool.”

“All that stuff... the crack, and Prisoner Zero, and the Atraxi....” He glared. “That was two years ago.”

The Doctor’s eyebrows went up. “Really? So that’s... fourteen years, since fish-custard?”

Rory nodded.

“Rory Williams, the Boy Who Waited. You’ve waited long enough.”

“When I was a kid, you said there was a library, and a swimming pool, and the swimming pool was _in_ the library.”

“Yeah. Not sure where it is now, it’ll turn up.”

Rory squinted. “Are you from another planet?”

“Yeah.”

He gave his head a quick shake. “‘Kay.”

“So, what do you think? Other planets, wanna check some out?”

Rory stared at him. “What does that mean?”

“It means, well, it means.... Come with me.”

“Where?”

“Wherever you like. So. Coming?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“You wanted to come fourteen years ago,” the alien reminded him.

“I grew up.”

“Don’t worry.” The Doctor grinned. “I’ll soon fix that.” He snapped his fingers and the doors to the box swung open.

***

“So. All of time and space. Everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?”

“You are so sure that I’m coming.”

“Yeah. I am.”

Rory was confused. “Why?”

“'Cause you're the odd one out, the loner, the boy who can’t get away from the people who remember all he did. And I know how that feels.”

“Oh do you?”

“All these years, living here your entire life, and you’ve never taken the opportunity to leave. Yeah, you're coming.”

“Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?” Rory asked.

“It's a time machine. I can get you back for five minutes ago. Why, what's tomorrow?”

“Nothing. Nothing. Just, you know, stuff.” It wasn’t that he regretted his decision, or that he didn’t want to go through with it. He just... had other things on his mind.

The Doctor looked at him weird. “Alright then. Back in time for _stuff_.”

Rory leaned against the railing. “I can’t believe this is happening, _really happening_.”

“Why? You thought this was all a dream?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just.... After so many years, I started to think you were just, like, a mad man with a box.”

The Doctor leaned next to him. “Rory Williams, there's something you better understand about me 'cause it's important, and one day your life may depend on it. I am _definitely_ a mad man with a box.” He grinned. “Haha, yeah.”

Rory let out a startled laugh and grabbed on to the console as the box started to shake.

“Next stop: everywhere!” the Doctor exclaimed.

And they were off.


End file.
